It remains kind of mind-blowing to remember that Nick DePuy entered MLS as a forward. At 6’5, he seems like a natural central defender, and over the past several seasons, he’s put in the reps to move from one end of the field to the other.
The California native was solid on a bad LA Galaxy team in 2020, stepping up in a general breach to become a regular on the backline, and his progress continued under a new regime in 2021. While Greg Vanney seemed determined to upgrade center back, bringing in Derrick Williams and Sega Coulibaly, there was a revolving door between the trio and Daniel Steres, and DePuy saw plenty of playing time once again.